Puffing smoke and blowing into a seashell, a Mayan shaman leads a purification ceremony before players from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador compete in the Third Central American Mayan Ball Games Tournament. The game, played by striking the ball using only hips, is a way to keep alive an ancestral tradition and strengthen ties between players from Central American countries.
Madrid (AFP) – After 14 years with the Spanish football club Real Madrid, striker Karim Benzema is leaving. In Madrid, disappointed but grateful fans thank him for all he has given: “The door will always be open for you here,” says Jose Antonio Miranda.
Milan (AFP) – After the announcement late Sunday that he was retiring from football, Zlatan Ibrahimovic speaks up during a press conference in Milan. He states the news was kept to himself, even his club AC Milan was left in the dark about his plan to bring the curtain down on a long, trophy-packed career. “It was raining when I woke up. So I said: God is sad too,” the veteran striker says.
London (AFP) – As the fourth edition of the London Design Biennale opens, all eyes are on robot Ai-Da and her household items’ designs. The exhibition explores new forms of collaboration through design — from environment to artificial intelligence. The exhibition also includes a project to send reusable windows to war-damaged Ukraine.
Dakar (AFP) – Senegal’s director of public security tells journalists that “500 individuals have been arrested” after clashes which left at least 16 people dead and more than 350 demonstrators injured in Senegal. In Dakar, tension is gradually easing after 72 hours of violence following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years behind bars.
A healthy Rocky Mountain snowpack is set to offer a bumper season for thrill-seeking white water rafters on Colorado’s rivers.
Thousands of Hindu worshippers scale an active Indonesian volcano to toss livestock, food and other offerings into its smoking crater in a centuries-old religious ceremony. IMAGES
New Delhi (AFP) – Hundreds of environmental activists gather along the Yamuna, one of India’s holiest rivers but also one of its most polluted. The event was held for World Environment Day on 5 June.
At sea (AFP) – Footage released by US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) shows a Chinese Navy ship executing maneuvers close to a US destroyer in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese ship “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of Chung-Hoon,” an American destroyer, during the Saturday transit, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong police detained more than 20 people on Sunday, including key pro-democracy figures trying to commemorate the anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, as hundreds attended vigils in Taipei, London, and New York.
